Evaluations

New things are happening at work today. I'm being evaluated. It has been at least twenty-five years since I've had an employee evaluation. When the assistant manager mentioned it last shift, she said not to worry, it was all good. I'm not at all worried. It'll be interesting to see what they say. What a relief to be an employee in my forties as opposed to an employee in my twenties. I want to work hard. I want a good reputation. But...

... at the end of the day... if you like me fine and if you don't that's fine too. I don't really care. You know what I mean? It's so different and a difference that I think actually makes me a better employee. Confidence. It does help that I've owned a business. I can certainly see things from their perspective while I'm equally not afraid of the customer. AND... then... after my evaluation... they are training me on the cash register.




Vogue 8409 is not recommended for my figure type. I can't see why not so I'm giving it a try with a few changes. My version won't have a waist insert at the back and may not even have a back waist seam. I'll evaluate that idea after the muslin stage and may eliminate it in favour of one continuous piece. That would certainly make inserting the zipper easier.

I'm using broadcloth to make this muslin however - once I've used up what I have - I'm trying the GeoTextile fabric that Katie mentioned a while ago. It comes in 24" wide by 300' long rolls. Broadcloth is $6.00 a meter and 45" wide. Since that's twice as wide as the roll, the price of the roll plus shipping divided by 150' equals $0.30 a foot. Even without the imperial/metric conversion, you can see that it's way less expensive and Katie loves it and that's a good recommendation.




On the back, I shortened the armhole by my standard 1" and the body by my standard 1/2" while adding the 2" length of the eliminated insert. That's a net adjustment of 1 1/2" to the body. I also widened the side by 5/8" for the difference in waist size. The pattern I have goes up to a size 14. My waist and hips are larger. As you can see, I write everything on the traced pattern.




On the front bodice, I adjusted the armhole by 1" and widened the side seam for the waist. There may not be enough ease through the bust however, I'll wait until after the muslin stage to decide. If needed, it'll be easy enough to widen the pleats and add more bust ease.




In this image, I've overlapped the front waist insert with the front bodice to ensure that the 5/8" of waist ease is added proportionally. The waist is actually lower than the seam, on the skirt piece. The front waist insert was shortened by 1/2" to match the back adjustment.

On the skirt, I added 5/8" to the waist and 1 1/4" to the hips. The pattern allowed for 4 1/2 inches of bust ease, 5 1/2 inches of waist ease, and 3 1/2 inches of hip ease. That's significantly more than I would want in a fitted dress so I've allowed for 2" of waist ease and 2 1/2" of hip ease and will - as I said earlier - debate the bust ease. Typically I like about 1".




I know that I showed a picture of the fabric before only I can't find it so here's another one taken with a flash. It shows the color of the lining fabric slightly better. It's a definite lime green. The paisley lace is dense and rich feeling with a bit of a sheen.

Elizabeth wrote - Would love to see a full photo of the purple skirt... Congrats on finishing it!

Karen wrote - Would you please have a really nice picture of you and your son at graduation taken so we can see the entire outfit.

I imagine we'll have a few pictures after the grad of both the skirt and top and of this lace dress - LOL - if it works out that is. If not, there'll be something else to show. I'm not going naked.

Karen also wrote - Is your son going to Guatemala with your husband? I remember that last year they drove down some new buses. Are they taking the easy way this year?

Hard to believe but it was actually two years ago that Kyle and Howard went. They flew down that time. Last year, Howard drove the buses down with a group of men. This year, he's flying down with a friend and they'll be servicing the buses as well as several other vehicles. So far, he plans to go again next year and Kyle may go with him as he has a sponsor child in Guatemala. Howard and I have two. We'll be sending presents and hopefully get pictures when Howard goes to visit them.

Debbie wrote - If you find the fused bias tape doesn't do the trick at the waist, try sewing twill tape into the waist seam allowance, about 1/16 to 1/8" below the actual seam. That will prevent any stretching. I wish I had a tip for the stretching of the (my) body below it. ;-)

I'd love to know the secret of my body's wildly fluctuating sizing. The holy grail. How is the twill tape sewn in if it's placed below the seam allowance - is it stitched above but extends below and is then held in place by the seam? Does it add bulk? The bias tape is "virtually" bulk-less. I thought that was a plus. Since I haven't worn the skirt yet, I don't know if it's doing the trick or not but I'm hopeful. It feels secure and the tape sure works well on the wrap tops.

Lorrie wrote - Happy Birthday to Caroline and your son-in-law. Fashion sewing always means a lot of tweaking. Which is why, at this point in my life, I do very little of it. I hope your headache goes away and you enjoy the day.

I passed along your greetings to Caroline. We both enjoyed dinner with you and Tim on our last visit to Nanaimo. It's so fun (and yummy) to get together when I'm there. Hopefully it works out again in the fall when Howard and I are down. Tim will - I'm sure - love less "girl" talk. The headache is hanging around. It's teenage stress induced so we'll see when that figures itself out but otherwise, sewing is always fun even when it isn't. How interesting that we're so close in age and yet at this point in my life I'm okay with tweaking while you need different spaces. How we (as in people) are all the same and yet different continues to intrigue me.

Time for work. Have a great day. Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - the experience to know how to adjust the muslin and the ability to change style lines to to suit my vision.